NOT QUITE A “ SELF-MADE MAN.” Morgan is not one of those magnates coming wholly under the classification of being a “ self-made man.” This phrase, used with so unctuous an effect in contemporaneous descriptions of rich men’s careers, has never been applied to Morgan. For once, there is a break-off in the almost unvarying run of similitudes. Of the early careers of nearly all other multimillionaires the same story has been mechanically written by glorifying writers ; how these men started out as poor boys, opened a little store somewhere, saved money and gradually worked up to wealth. In the nineteenth century the term “ self-made man ” was invested with an inordinate importance as signifying great personal energy and ability ; so much credit was supposed to attach to it that it was always mentioned with praise and received with pride. The object of its application was pointed out as a man who, possessing no original advantages, overcame all obstacles by sheer force of skill and determination, and achieved wealth. This, however, could not be said of J. Pierpont Morgan. His father, Junius S. Morgan, was a millionaire. Ascending by successive steps from the positions of farmer boy, dry goods clerk, bank clerk and commercial man, Junius S. Morgan became a partner of George Peabody in the banking business. When the Civil War came on, George Peabody and Company were appointed the financial representatives in England of the United States Government. Synchronously with this appointment their wealth suddenly began to pile up ; where hitherto they had amassed riches by stages not remarkably rapid, they now added many millions within a very few years.
Posted on: Wed, 28 Aug 2013 21:25:20 +0000
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